Sweet Panacea
by IndianSummer
Summary: Gaia Moore, FBI Agent. This is the first fanfic ever based off of the WB's fall television series.


Author: Indian Summer

Title: Sweet Panacea

Date: June 7, 2003

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters. Gaia Moore and other unoriginal characters belong to their respective owners: Francine Pascal, Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman, Jeremy Littman, Vincent Ngo, Jermey Carver, Warner Bros. TV, and Jerry Bruckheimer TV. Story written for entertainment value only. No infringement meant. 

Distribution: I'm not particularly demanding. Just ask before posting it elsewhere please… or at least give me the link so I'll know.

Spoilers: Spoilers for Fearless: Cheetah, Season 1, Episode 1. Well, technically the show's still a spoiler itself.

You can catch this show at 9PM on Tuesdays starting this fall on the WB.

Rating: PG-13, for now

Author's Note: This is the very first fanfic based on the television series, so enjoy!

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"We experience moments absolutely free from worry. These brief respites are called panic."   
--Cullen Hightower 

Suspicion. The word summed up the looks Gaia'd been getting all day perfectly. She was used to getting that strange, wary glimpse from authorities, but this was a new game. These were her partners, her equals. They may have been doing this longer, working these scenes longer, but they weren't any better than her. They were her equals; she was their age and just as fit for the job as they were. Hell, she was probably more fit. Gaia Moore had an advantage no other human she'd ever met possessed.

Gaia Moore had been born without the fear gene. It sounded clear cut enough, no strings attached. What you see is what you get. It wasn't.

Gaia wasn't a wimp. She wasn't afraid of breaking a nail, of dying. She wasn't _afraid_. She'd fight to the death if she had to. She didn't have time to think about the consequences, couldn't worry over them. She saved that until later.

See, worry isn't fear. Worry isn't quite as adrenaline driven as fear. Worry's less tangible. A lot of people mix worry with fear, Gaia knew. Worry was a lesser degree than fear. Worry was playing over details again and again, wondering if you'd made the right choice. If a death was preventable. If it were your fault. Worry was thinking about the consequences of your actions. After they'd already been made. And that's what Gaia was doing now.

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Fear is panic.

Gaia'd told her partners about her malfunction, as she sometimes thought of it. Well, it was. She didn't ask for sympathy; she wasn't looking for it. Gaia was just brutally honest. A missing gene was a malfunction, like missing a gear in a watch or a ribbon in a printer.

Harmony Kay, Gaia's 23 year old female partner, had said she'd have a lot of questions. She hadn't asked one. This worried Gaia. She would've rather Harmony came out and asked Gaia what kind of freak she was, why she took up valuable space on the earth, what the point of her life was. Then Gaia could've done something about it. She could've knocked her out.

Instead, there was just silence. The silence wasn't peaceful or quiet, though. It was tense, uncomfortable. Gaia'd seen her partners open their mouths a few times, but they had yet to actually say anything about it.

Then there was Jordan Gray. She really couldn't have picked a worse time to blurt this all out. The guy had just been beat up and held at gunpoint by his own father, scared out of his wits. He'd trusted Gaia, and Gaia realized he had a hard time with trust. She knew the feeling all too well.

She remembered his raised eyebrows, the shocked expression. He'd tried to cover it, looking away and clearing his expression. She'd seen a passing glint of it when she glanced at him though. 

And now he was essentially a partner. Or a Cooperating Witness. He'd taken the offer quickly, aware it would get him out of a ten year sentence.

Gaia swore under her breath. It was absurd. She was upset because of the way she'd treated a credit card hacker who'd stolen over a million identities and lied about his own?

So far she wasn't liking adult life. She'd thought her high school life was hell… it didn't even begin to compare. Sure, high school had been eventful, with ex-boyfriends magically turning up alive after she was sure they were dead, an evil uncle masquerading as her father, a friend being murdered as she finally pulled her life together. But this? This was insane. At least in high school she'd known who she could trust, who wouldn't bail on her.

Ed, for example. Her best friend and kind-of-boyfriend. She'd known she could tell him anything, and he wouldn't freak out, wouldn't tell everyone he knew. He'd had his moments, but she'd never doubted him.

Now, she was working with three people she barely knew, one of whom was a criminal. And to make it worse, she couldn't even trust herself? What kind of FBI agent was attracted to a thief?

Gaia Moore knew when to admit defeat. She rarely did, but she knew now was one of those times. Gaia was attracted to Jordan Gray. She had been since she'd met him, shook his hand. 

And Harmony knew. Gaia had seen the look Special Agent Harmony Kay had given her when she'd found Gaia huddled against the wall with Jordan, Jordan Sr. lying in the middle of the floor unconscious. She'd seen Gaia's expression. She'd seen it all. And this worried Gaia as well. All in all, Harmony Kay was proving to be a concern of Gaia's.


End file.
